Pilot killed in jet crash near N.C. Marine air base

HAVELOCK, N.C. (AP) -- A Marine fighter jet crashed Monday about
a mile short of a runway at an eastern North Carolina air base,
killing the pilot, a Marine Corps spokesman said.

The single-seat plane was returning to the base after a training
flight when it crashed about 12:30 p.m. in an unpopulated area,
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point spokesman Mike Barton said.
No one else was hurt, Barton said.

Local authorities say the crash, about a mile east of the base
off N.C. Highway 101, did not affect the few homes in the area.

The pilot's identity was being withheld until next-of-kin was
notified and an investigation had begun, Barton said. The AV-8B
Harrier jet was assigned to Marine Attack Training Squadron
203.

Another Harrier crashed in February near Cherry Point, but the
pilot wasn't injured. In May, a two-seat training model of the
Harrier crashed in Arizona, but the pilots ejected safely.

Monday's crash comes the same month that a Marine jet crashed in
a San Diego neighborhood near its base, killing four people on the
ground.

WNCT-TV in Greenville reported that a hunter nearby said the jet
was making an odd noise and belching smoke and flames before it
crashed.